Beagle Sniffs Out 240 Genomes in Two Days

Whole genome sequencing holds great potential for enriching diagnoses and understanding hereditary risk factors for specific diseases. However, the sheer volume of data involved poses major technical challenges, which limits the utility of this approach. For this reason many clinical geneticists have turned to exome sequencing which looks at a small portion of the genome that codes for proteins.

A team from the University of Chicago have managed to turn the spotlight back on whole genome sequencing by analyzing 240 full genomes in two days by recruiting the computational muscle of Beagle, one of the world’s fastest supercomputers. Beagle is a Cray XE6 supercomputer at the Argonne National Laboratory outside Chicago, and is used for computation, simulation, and data analysis for the biomedical research community.

The architecture of the Beagle is such that it allows highly efficient and rapid processing of parallel data streams. To give you some idea of just how powerful the Beagle is, the researchers estimate that the equivalent task carried out by a single 2.1 GHz CPU would take approximately 47.2 years to complete.

According to one of the lead investigators, Professor Elizabeth McNally:

Improving analysis through both speed and accuracy reduces the price per genome, with this approach, the price for analyzing an entire genome is less than the cost of the looking at just a fraction of genome. New technology promises to bring the costs of sequencing down to around $1,000 per genome. Our goal is get the cost of analysis down into that range.

The team have published their results, in great technical depth, in the journal Bioinformaticsand while we won’t see this kind of technology in clinics anytime soon, it should certainly enhance the pace and clinical utility of whole genome sequencing.

Gavin holds a first-class Bachelor’s degree in Electronic Engineering degree from the University of Limerick and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the National University of Ireland, Galway. He is currently a post-doctoral research and project leader at the NUI Galway where he has spent the last 2 years leading the product development and commercialization of two novel technologies for the management of varicose veins and chronic venous leg ulcers. He has published several research papers in the fields of anatomy, physiology and medical physics and is the lead author of one patent application to date.
In his free time Gavin has been known to swim, cycle and hum a tune or two.

Event Details

PULSUS group cordially welcomes researchers, academicians, students and business professionals in the field of Cancer Science and Therapy from around

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Event Details

PULSUS group cordially welcomes researchers, academicians, students and business professionals in the field of Cancer Science and Therapy from around the world to participate in the upcoming “2nd World Congress on Advanced Cancer Science & Therapy” to be held at Dubai, UAE during January 28-29, 2019. The meeting for this year will revolve around the theme “An Assembly of Curious Facts and Cure for Cancer” thus relaying the most cutting-edge findings in this field.

The two-day meeting is going to be an event to look forward for its enlightening symposiums & workshops from established experts in cancer therapy, potential keynote talks from eminent speakers, informative oral sessions and innovative poster presentations.

Cancer Therapy 2019 is an extraordinary event that invites participants from different leading universities, clinical research institutions and various diagnostic companies to share their research experiences in all aspects of this rapidly expanding field and provides an opportunity to meet and communicate with leading doctors, surgeons, scientists, academic professionals from around the world and listen to top speakers on new developments that impact and advance future of cancer science. It serves as a global platform to know about the current developments and new approaches in the field of cancer science and therapy. It will also prove to be a brilliant open door for businesses keen on expanding their global market reach. This event is an effort to understand the underlying new techniques which are amended to increase effectiveness, accuracy, sustainability, and quality of life.